A great way to end the downloadable content run for Fallout 3. If it's indeed the final DLC we're to see for the game, it's surely an out-of-this-world way to close off our explorations of the Capital Wasteland, providing a thoroughly enjoyable ride that is likely to last almost as much as the longest of the packs that's come out so far - Broken Steel.

Aliens, cowboys, robots, zombies (sorta), and samurais are included and do spice up the experience, but if you really want to crank up the craziness, Bethesda, we'll need some pirates and vikings, too.

Hefty chunks of Mothership Zeta feel formulaic and repetitive, yet the sting of the expansion's low points is countered somewhat by the impeccable presentation, smartly-implemented sci-fi vibe, and a few entertaining twists.

Mothership Zeta offers new opponents, weapons and areas. Whether the expansion pays homage to Mars Attacks, Aliens and Star Wars or most of the important elements have been copied from them, it's fun nonetheless.

It's short, focused too heavily on combat through bland corridors, and feels like a missed opportunity. I still had fun while wandering the alien ship, but that is more of a testament to the strengths of Fallout 3 than the strengths of this expansion.

Despite the addition of some interesting characters, it really is a shame that Fallout 3’s steady addition of downloadable content had to end on this sour note because there was plenty of room for interesting ideas.

The bottom line here is that Mothership Zeta is about as much of a miss as Bethesda has ever been responsible for. A few hours of linear romp through boring corridors fighting boring enemies is frankly a shocking disappointment from such a successful development group.

Mothership Zeta is a let down. It's nowhere near as good as Point Lookout or The Pitt. It's slightly better than Operation Anchorage, but only slightly. It's a linear, repetitive slog through an alien space ship and nothing else. Is it a fitting finale? No. Is it worth 800MS Points? Just. If only for the Samurai Armour. Sniff.

Design flaws include a bizarre decision to cordon off most of the ship after completion, locking away any unique items you previously overlooked. Much of the game commendably favours stealth players but the rest can feel shambolic.

There's something so audacious to me about stacking aliens on top of the apocalypse, and Mothership Zeta does it well enough that I'm willing to excuse some of its structural bluntness and over-reliance on combat. It's not the best Fallout 3 DLC, but it's still pretty interesting, and not a bad way to spend four or five hours.

Mothership Zeta has some big pros and cons. The content it delivers is meager and gives the idea that they could have done a lot more with the variation in locations. The atmosphere and humor partly make up for this. Overall this mothership has become a place where you can enjoy yourself for a couple of hours, but because of its linear nature Mothership Zeta never comes close to the qualities of the main game.

There are some good bits like the alien weirdness (often funny), but mostly it's one long dungeon crawl experience. Wish they There are some good bits like the alien weirdness (often funny), but mostly it's one long dungeon crawl experience. Wish they wouldn't do these combat orientated DLCs.…Full Review »

Seriously, Fallout, how do you make getting abducted by aliens boring? Mothership Zeta is barely more interesting than wandering around theSeriously, Fallout, how do you make getting abducted by aliens boring? Mothership Zeta is barely more interesting than wandering around the wasteland killing raiders for a few of hours, and only then because aliens are slightly more interesting than raiders. But if you decide to go raider hunting and get bored, you can always just go do something else. Mothership Zeta forces you to do nothing except kill aliens for hours. Yay. The aliens have no personality, no motivations, no nothing except a big head and a desire to kill you. There are other humans in Mothership, but they don’t really do anything. They don’t help you, they aren’t interesting, and you’ll probably just ignore them. Other than the alien weapons you’ll pick up in the first 10 minutes, there’s not any cool loot. There aren’t any side quests: there’s nothing to do except escape the ship. That is, there’s nothing to do in this DLC except get it over with. Which raises an obvious question: why bother?…Full Review »

TomM.

Aug 11, 2009

4

Pretty weak, especially compared to Broken Steel and Point Lookout. As others have said, very linear, and after about 20 minutes of play the Pretty weak, especially compared to Broken Steel and Point Lookout. As others have said, very linear, and after about 20 minutes of play the spaceship interior gets very boring to look at. Clunky dialogue and encounters with NPC's. Just not a very fun or engaging DLC. My advice - save your $10 for Fallout: Las Vegas.…Full Review »